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Monday, April 20, 2015

FILM CRITIQUE/REVIEW: AMOUR

Movie Posters

Warning: if you are
older, you may want to pass on this film. It may be considered brilliant, but it
is also disturbing and painful to watch--all the more so, if you can see
yourself there in a few years.

Kaneke At Work

Amour. Amour. What can
one possibly say about such a film so powerful it evokes emotion from even the
most damaged of hearts? Hello everyone and welcome to a Film Critique/Review
on Michael Haneke’s AMOUR.
Although I am quite new to Haneke’s work, I have seen such films as Code Unknownand The White Ribbon (great films I
highly recommend) so I was well aware of the French director’s brilliant use of
symbolism and realist style of camera work. The plot, without giving away
spoilers, is like this: retired music teachers Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant)
and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) have spent their lives devoted to their careers and
to each other. Their relationship faces its greatest challenge when Anne
suffers a debilitating stroke. Though Georges himself suffers from the aches
and infirmities of old age, he bravely ignores his own discomfort to take care
of his wife, and is determined to keep his promise to her that she never go
back to the hospital. Before we get into the deep meaning of the film let me
explain some aspects of the film I liked. For one, I enjoyed the casting.
Although I have never seen Emmanuelle Riva act, I remember seeing Jean-Louis
Trintignant in a film once in French class, the name now escapes me. I got the
sense of a loving couple who has been through many things, and is now
deteriorating before our very eyes. Another thing I enjoyed throughout the film
was the brave lighting. I liked the gruff, dull, contrasting lighting
throughout the film. The natural lighting in Anne’s room gives this scene
stripped of feeling and desire that the main characters once had. The one thing
I regretted while watching this film was the fact that I have not yet mastered
the French language, making me unable to see the full scene at times, but I
don’t believe that is necessarily Michael’s fault. Now on to the deep stuff.
Throughout the film, the foreshadowing with the wife being out of the shot is
Michael seems to be telling us to look what is going to happen, and, like death
itself, there is nothing we can do about it. There were many scenes I found
hard to watch, although I didn’t necessarily cry. I think that’s what made this
film so powerful. I saw this film with my whole family, amounting to eight
people, and throughout the whole film not one person made a sound. I imagined
that is what it must have been like when this film first premiered. In terms of
what Kaneke was able to do with the stale colors impressed me very much. In the
beginning we are shown a theatre, full of people from all walks of life,
dressed in many different clothes and colors. The bright lights and the
applause followed by the joy on the people’s faces brings out this emotion of
happiness. A brilliant move by Mr. Haneke in my opinion. One thing was clear, I
didn’t expect such unflinching seriousness, such profundity from Haneke. Its
opening scene essentially tells us how it will end. Now regard Anne and Georges
at breakfast soon after. He doesn't even notice that she has momentarily frozen.
She is somewhere else. The specific shots of this sequence are masterful. Then
she returns, unaware that anything has happened, but something has, and her
stroke is the beginning of the end for their history together. I have to say,
my favorite scene was at the end when SPOILER: We see Georges attempting to
catch the pigeon and eventually does. Now this is after he SPOLIER: killed his
wife so we, as the audience, fear for the bird as we subconsciously think he
may kill the bird, but he doesn’t. Like his wife, he set the bird free. Out of
love or out of frustration he wants his wife to stop suffering, which I found
beautiful. The next scene is when he wakes from a lumber in the spare room of
his home. He struggles to stand (because he killed himself possibly????) but
when he gets up he goes into his kitchen to find his wife washing dishes,
getting ready to go out. She asks if he is ready to go. He does no respond but
changes his shoes. The wife then goes out of the frame. I loved how once more
the director takes the woman who we have grown to appreciate and care for be
taken out of our focus without being able to do anything about it. She comes
back into the frame and is about to leave when she reminds her husband to take
a coat. He gets his coat and leaves. He and his wife are now a part of history,
and may or may not be forgotten. The final scene gets me I have to admit. The
daughter is alone, and it sort of reminded me of a child being left at home for
the first time. She appears scared, and the loneliness creeps in. she is so
lonely that we the audience become shamed at her as well so we leave her to
cope and reflect on how bad of a daughter she has been and how she took them
for granted.

To conclude, this film
is a modern masterpiece. The elongated scenes and the long pauses make for an
amazing experience. I’ve had people die in my family, so I could see the pain
and frustration that goes into the process of dying and the deterioration of man
and woman no matter what age, relationship or status.